One of the aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) governors called National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole unprintable names in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Saturday Vanguard, the incident happened when the president tried to settle the rift between Oshiomhole and the governor.
The governor reportedly visited Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja and found Buhari speaking with Oshiomhole on phone.
The president was said to have offered the governor the phone so that he could make peace with the national chairman in his (Buhari’s) presence.
But instead of making peace, the governor reportedly began to pour insults on Oshiomhole, using unprintable names.
This scene which lasted more than 30 minutes was said to have convinced Buhari that the governor and others like him were being propelled by self-interest.
The aggrieved governors were said to have instigated penultimate Sunday’s interrogation of Oshiomhole by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged bribery of the party chairman during the contentious APC primaries.
They were said to have told the DSS that Oshiomhole collected more than $55million from aspirants in Lagos, Kano, Imo and Zamfara states, charges he vehemently denied.
The endgame was purportedly to secure the resignation of Oshiomhole, who bluntly refused to resign until he loses the president’s support.
Meanwhile Buhari and some top party leaders have reportedly thrown their support behind Oshiomhole, who has maintained that he was being tackled by some party bigwigs for standing against imposition of candidates ahead of the 2019 general election.
A source said, “What happened was the handiwork of a few people, who used the influence they think they have to intimidate the chairman. They wanted him to resign his position as the National Chairman to pave the way for their selfish interest. They invited Comrade and he honoured the invitation as a law-abiding citizen. He was taken aback when they started asking him questions about issues that didn’t exist.
“Even the President was not aware of it as some people claimed. The President and the Vice President were informed about the incident on phone and they were very angry because it is obvious that some people who are not comfortable with comrade’s resolve to ensure that candidates were not imposed on the party are ready to make the party implode.
“They asked him questions regarding Kano State, Imo State, and Zamfara State among others. The funny aspect is that they said he collected money from Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode.
“That was just a petty lie because the outcome of the Lagos primary was not a subject of controversy and Ambode did not even kick against the emergence of the winner. In addition to that, they said he collected money from senators. That is absolute nonsense because Comrade is a former governor, who has attained the peak in public office. How could he have collected money from a senator, who collects about N13 million monthly? The allegations against him lacked substance.
“The morning after the incident some governors, ministers and other top functionaries visited his house and were threatening to defend comrade, adding that they didn’t care if the party experienced an implosion. That scene is better imagined. Of course, their reaction was expected because the incident was on the heels of threats by an aggrieved governor that comrade would be forced out of office.
“The call by the opposition that the Interpol should arrest comrade was unnecessary because he committed no crime to have warranted such. It even showed that the main opposition party in this country does not engage in constructive criticisms. If the incident had happened to the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus they would have described it as an abuse of power. Since Comrade is the victim, it does not amount to an abuse of power anymoThat is the kind of destructive politics people play in Nigeria. It should be on record that nobody would be allowed to bend the rules of the APC. Even Comrade and President Buhari do not have that power to subvert the will of the people. Oshiomhole’s position on the matter is simple. He stands for the rule of law not imposition of candidates. That is the reason he refused to succumb to all attempts at making him allow illegality in states where arrangements have been concluded to impose candidates on the people.”